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Understanding Work and Organisations

Module description

An organisation refers to the way people are grouped and the way they operate to carry out activities. In everyday life organisations are all around us. We engage with organisations as customers, consumers, employees or through communities we live in or visit. Work and organisations is a fundamental part of a functioning society. It is therefore important to develop some understanding and insight about how organisations behave, can be appropriately designed and effectively managed.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will explain the importance of studying organisational theory and research.

The module introduces core concepts of organisation studies by offering different theoretical perspectives that contribute to management knowledge about analysing, managing, controlling and, changing organisations. 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Recount key theories and perspectives on work and organisations
• 2. Explain theory-practice links by applying the concepts and perspectives introduced to organisational case studies
• 3. Analyse implications relating to the organisational context and the complexity of managing people

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Present effective arguments about the management of organisations
• 5. Evaluate selected concepts, theories and techniques relevant to work and organisations

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Work in groups to achieve a task or outcome by a fixed deadline
• 7. Work independently and be self-motivated

Syllabus plan

• Introduction – Module and Organisational Contexts: module, assessment. Work, institutions and organisations, local and global challenges, ethics and CSR
• The Structure of Organisations: changing designs, factory, humanistic, bureaucratic, post-bureaucratic
• The Experience of Organisations: power, justice, socialisation and culture
• Strategy in Organisations: agility, strategy and perspectives
• HRM in Organisations: human resource management overview
• Disrupting the Organisation: themes in innovation, creativity, technology and the changing working relationship
• The Sociology of Work:  work, labour life in Marx, Durkheim and Webber
• Landscapes of Work: technology, modernisation, and work in transition

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (2002). Identity Regulation As Organizational Control: Producing The Appropriate Individual. Journal of management studies, 39(5), 619-644.

Child, J. (2015). Organization: contemporary principles and practice. John Wiley & Sons.

Greenwood, R., Oliver, C., Lawrence, T. B., & Meyer, R. E. (Eds.). (2017). The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism. Sage.

Hatch, M. J. (2018). Organization theory: Modern, symbolic, and postmodern perspectives. Oxford university press.

Jaffee, D. (2001). Organization theory: Tension and change: McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages.

Pugh, D. S., & Hickson, D. J. (2007). Writers on organizations. Penguin UK.

Rahim, M. A. (2017). Managing conflict in organizations. Routledge.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

The Tavistock Institute http://www.tavinstitute.org/